The Raven and the Mage
by GuardianSoulBlade
Summary: Summary: Raven and Beast Boy move to Fuyuki City as they go into semi-retirement. Raven keeps a promise she made to Kiritsugu to train Shirou in magecraft and to teach him heroism, but will it be enough for him to survive the Fifth Holy Grail War? Shirou/Rin, Beast Boy/Raven, Saber/Jason Blood (Etrigan).
1. Prologue

**The Raven and the Mage**

 _ **Summary:** Raven and Beast Boy move to Fuyuki City as they go into semi-retirement. Raven keeps a promise she made to Kiritsugu to train Shirou in magecraft and to teach him heroism, but will it be enough for him to survive the Fifth Holy Grail War and hopefully, reshape his twisted ideals of heroism._

 _ **Author's Note:** I know Raven is considered immensely OP in Teen Titans, she's going to be just as OP in the Fate/Stay Night universe as her magic could be considered True Magic. The Titans won't be directly involved in the Holy Grail war, but that doesn't mean Slade can't be Shinji's bodyguard. And also, Malchior will be involved because...I always wanted to see Saber fight a dragon! Excalibur VS. Dragon Fire Breath, WHOO!_

* * *

 **Prologue**

Rachel Roth heard the footsteps approaching her from behind, they echoed in the empty room.

"Thank you for seeing me again, I'm amazed you're still willing to help me," Kiritsugu Emiya spoke to her.

"The Mage Killer seeks the help of a human half demon hybrid, it's ironic," Rachel laughed.

"Raven, please, can't you help me?"

"With your emotional turmoil, yes, but why haven't you asked me?"

"Ask you what?" Kiritsugu was confused.

"Rescuing your daughter Illiya? I'm surprised you haven't asked me to take her from the Einzbern family."

"I…I can't ask you that, I'll get Illiya on my own," Kiritsugu pulled out a cigarette.

"You still haven't said why you won't ask me to rescue your daughter," Rachel repeated.

"It's because you're…a hero of justice, and I'm not," the heavy-hearted Mage sighed. He lit the cigarette and took a deep breath.

She laughed, "A hero of justice; that sounds so grand. Rescuing your daughter would be easy for me, my powers rival that of any Mage and the Church is afraid of me, but why do you feel that you should be the one to do it?"

"I'm her father, that's why," Kiritsugu sighed. "I just need your help with…the dreams, that's all."

"If that's what you want, I can do that, please sit down," Raven gestured to the chair. "Do you want some herbal tea?"

"Yes, please," he replied, taking the cup of tea she poured for him.

He put down his cigarette and drank the tea.

The Mage Killer stared at her sadly, "I have a question to ask you."

"I know," Raven replied. It was the same question he asked every time he came to visit.

"You have 300 people on one ship 200 on another. 500 total passenger and crew, plus Rachel Roth. Let's assume that these 501 people are humanity's last survivors. Giant holes simultaneously in both ships. Rachel alone has the skills needed to repair a ship. Now then, what ships would you choose to fix?"

"You give directions to people on both ships, and help them fix their boats."

She saw him start to cry. "You make it look so easy, saving the world."

"Saving the world is hardly easy, Kiritsugu, but it's not impossible, I've done it, my friends and I have saved the world so many times, I've lost count. We've even prevented the End of the World. It only seems impossible to you, because you believed that that eliminating the evil and leaving the good works, but no matter how many people you killed, there is always evil in the world. Saving the world means you save everyone, not just the good people."

Raven reached up to touch his face, "You keep thinking that if you'd done things differently, perhaps if you'd killed Shirley when she became an Undead Apostle, you would have saved your village. Let's say hypothetically that you had, you loved her, and you would have lived with the guilt of her murder. Then your father Norikata would have just found someone else to help him with his experiments and perhaps they would have suffered the same fate, he would have repeated the process until the entire village was wiped out or the Executioners discovered him. Those experiments would have continued with or without you killing Shirley."

"But I did the right thing and she died, I wanted a world where no one cries, where we can all be happy."

"Like I said, Kiritsugu, those experiments would have continued if you'd killed her or not, sometimes doing the right thing has consequences we don't expect, but you know that already."

"The Holy Grail, you think I did the right thing in destroying it."

"Yes, it's not the all-powerful wish-granting device they think it is. It was corrupted long ago. I sensed the evil presence inside it when I arrived in Fuyuki five years ago."

"I just don't understand how you with all your power, and your friends couldn't save anyone in the Fuyuki fire."

"It wasn't because we didn't try; you of all people know how fast that fire spread. We're metahumans, not gods."

"Your friend Nightwing is completely human," Kiritsugu noted.

"Yes he is, but he keeps pace with the best of us, in all our sparring matches, he wins most of them, you don't need magic to become a hero, you only need the determination and mindset to be one."

"I know," Kiritsugu took another gulp of his herbal tea. "All I want is to redeem myself by raising Shirou to be a good person, and…I don't want the dreams to haunt me anymore."

"I'll do what I can for you," Raven reached out and placed her hand on his head.

Kiritsugu heard her utter a chant, "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos."

Raven delved into his memories, they were horrifying and terrible, but she accepted them, embraced them, she had seen many terrible things in her life, and she knew she could bear all his emotional pain and suffering.

Still, the most tragic aspect of his life was the death of his ideals, if fate had not been so unkind to him, Raven had no doubt that Kiritsugu would have become a hero, a man worthy of the Justice League if he had taken up such a cause, if his ideals hadn't been torn apart by his father's experiments and the death of the girl he loved, no, that wasn't it. Many heroes were driven by tragedies and they used those to drive them to do good for the sake of others.

No, he'd twisted his idealism into cynicism, and he thought the Hoy Grail could make his idealistic wish come true. It didn't happen that way.

She saw his memories, felt the agony of despair and hopelessness. She absorbed the emotional energy and accepted it, as an empath, she could sense all his emotions and she'd been overwhelmed the first time he came to her, nearly collapsing after he left, but she'd grown used to his emotions as he came to see her, every so often, she would heal him, taking away the deep depression and guilt.

But it didn't last, Raven noted, and he was coming more often, and he was growing weaker, not because of her powers, but because of the "holy grail".

Raven was reminded of Jason Todd, but Kiritsugu was far more troubled, and had far more emotional pain by comparison, still, he seemed to have found redemption in his adopted son Shirou Emiya that he spoke so often of.

Raven hadn't actually had time to meet him yet. Her hero work kept her quite busy, and she was newly married to Beast Boy, Garfield Logan, although he often joke that he'd happily have their honeymoon in Japan, but they knew they couldn't afford that, not on both their salaries anyway.

"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos. Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos."

Raven felt Kiritsugu relax, she removed her hand from his head.

"Thank you, Raven," Kiritsugu gave her a grateful expression.

"You're welcome, Kiritisugu, I suppose I'll see you when you come back to Jump City again."

Kiritsugu put his cigarette out. "I won't be coming back again Raven. I'm dying. Could you do something for me?"

"What do you want me to do?"

"Train Shirou in magecraft, I'm unable to do that now."

"My magic is from a completely different dimension, and doesn't follow equivalent exchange. I don't know what I can possibly teach him."

"You can teach him….to be a hero, will you come back with me and meet him?"

"Yes, I will," Raven replied.

Suddenly, the door opened, and Beast Boy poked his head inside. "Raven, put the pedal to the metal, we gotta go!"

"What happened?" Raven looked up at Beast Boy.

"It's Slade, he's back!"

"I'm coming," She glanced at Kiritsugu, "After this business is over, I'll come back with you."

Kiritsugu watched her leave, "My life was meant to be one solely of loss."

Raven left quickly, she had a city to save. She would meet the young Shirou soon, and she hoped she'd be able to help Kiritsugu, even if it was something as simple as teaching a little boy magecraft.

* * *

A few days later, Raven arrived at the Emiya manor; she was surprised at how large and spacious the house was. Apparently, Kiritsugu was rich. She saw the door open and a red-haired little boy greeted her.

"Is your father here?" Rachel asked.

"He said you were coming Miss Rachel, he's in the backyard." Shirou showed her to the backyard where Kiritsugu was sitting, staring up at the moon.

"You must be Shirou, it's very nice to meet you," Raven smiled.

"It's nice to meet you too," he gave her a smile.

The sight was a perfect picture of beautiful melancholy.

"Hello Kiritsugu," Raven greeted him.

"Hello, please sit."

She sat beside them.

"Hey! Hey, old man! If you're so tired you're gonna fall asleep, go to bed!" Shirou scolded

"Huh? Right, I'm fine," Kiritsugu reassured him.

He glanced at his adopted son, "When I was little, I really wanted to be a hero."

"What are you talking about? You don't want to anymore? Did you just give up?" Shirou asked.

"Yeah, unfortunately. Seems that wish has an expiration date. When you grow up, it's hard to call yourself one." He laughed, "I wish I'd realized that sooner."

"I see, I guess there's nothing you can do about it," Shirou told him.

"Yeah, right, I guess not," Kiritsugu sighed. "It really is a nice moon tonight."

Shirou shut his eyes, "Fine, since you can't do it," he looked over at Kiritsugu, "I'm gonna be a hero for you."

"Hmm?" Kiritsugu was surprised.

His voice as confident, "You're an adult now so you can't do it anymore, but I still can! Just leave it to me! I'll make it happen!"

Raven felt the emotional burden Kiritisugu carried with him lift, as he felt joy for the first time in years.

"You do that," Kiritsusgu said quietly. He shut his eyes.

Raven could feel his life force leaving him as he breathed his last and died quietly, but not before she glimpsed one final memory:

 _"Kerry, tell me, what do you want to grow up to be?" Shirley asked._

 _"Well, what I want to be, is a hero!"_

Shirou knew deep down that his adopted father was gone and he began to cry.

Raven pulled him into a comforting hug. "It's all right Shirou, I'm here for you, okay."

"I remember the look on his face, the tears in his eyes," Shirou looked up at her, "over finding someone alive in the rubble. A man filled with joy, from the bottom of his heart. He looked so happy to me; it was almost as though it had been him that had been saved that day, and not me."

Shirou continued speaking, "He kept saying, "He's alive! He's alive! He's alive" And then, so fervently, even as I teetered on the brink of death, I felt jealous of him. He said, "Thank you." That he was glad he'd found someone, that by saving even one person, he had saved himself."

"It's all right, Shirou, it's all right," Raven whispered softly. "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos. Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos."

Raven held him, rocking him quietly, "You're going to be fine, between Fujimura and I, you'll be fine."

"You're going to stay with me at the house?"

"Not at the house, but I'll live close by, so I'll see you often, Kiritisugu wanted me to teach you a lot of things."

"What kind of things?"

"I'll tell you something about me right now, but you can't tell anyone else, promise?"

Shirou looked at her, "I promise, I can keep a secret."

"I'm a superhero Shirou, and I'm going to teach you how to become one," Raven reassured him.

"You promise, Miss Rachel?"

"I promise, Shirou Emiya will become a hero of justice."


	2. Winter Days, a Fateful Night Part 1

**Winter Days, a Fateful Night Part 1**

 ** _Author's Note:_** _I appreciate all reviews from Type Moonies in regards to the Nasuverse's vast and complex magic system. I've been looking at original F/SN anime, the Visual Novel, the Type Moon Wiki and UBW for exposition of the magic system._

 _An interesting thing about the DC Universe is that the price for their magic is that bad things happen to people that use it, and that's rather interesting considering that in the Nasuverse, most mages have sucky lives._

 _I will break from canon in some ways, but events will occur just like they did in the visual novel and animes. Saber's summoning will be split up into multiple chapters because this will be long as it is, but events leading up to it will be different._

 _I can't believe this chapter is the first 16:30 minutes of episode 2 of Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works 2014, it's so long, even with the new scenes I added, YEESH!_

* * *

His world is burning. He's glancing around, looking for anyone to save. He finally collapses, longing to die, to be put out of his misery.

The shed door creaked as it opened. In a deep sleep, Shirou Emiya heard a voice call to him.

"Shirou?"

"Ugh," he moaned.

"I'm sorry, but it's time to wake up," Sakura Matou said as she leaned over him.

"Good morning, Sakura," Shirou replied sleepily.

"Hi! Hope you slept well last night," Sakura was cheerful.

Shirou rested his face in his hand, "I'm sorry, I should have been up and helping with the morning chores already."

"Don't worry about that Shirou; you were up really late again weren't you?" Sakura glanced at him.

"I was, but you know that's no excuse," Shirou met her gaze.

"I know but, let me handle all the morning chores for you today. I mean, if you leave this place messy again, Ms. Fujimura will get really angry."

"Yeah, you have a point. I don't want to piss her off," the teenager agreed.

"Okay, breakfast will be ready in a minute, hurry up!" Sakura called as she made her way back to the house.

Shirou watched Sakura leave, " _Man_ , I fell asleep before finishing again! I lack focus!"

The red head glanced back at the pipe on the concrete floor, he rested his fingers on top of it, letting his mana flow into the pipe, it quickly disappeared.

Shirou headed off to the Emiya dojo to do his physical exercise training, doing his daily routine of pushups while Sakura cooked breakfast.

Putting his shirt back on, Shirou dressed in his school uniform and headed into the house, where he saw Taiga Fujimura, his guardian, Sakura, and to his surprise, Rachel and her husband Garfield Logan sitting at the breakfast table.

"Miss Fujimra invited us, we hope you don't mind," Gar said with a smile on his face.

"I haven't seen you in awhile Gar; didn't you say you were an actor?"

"Yeah, I get type cast as the green alien all the time, I also work with animals on set and stuff like that, so I tend to be gone from home a lot."

"I see," Shirou noticed his guardian intently reading the morning newspaper as the TV blared in the background.

"Thanks Sakura, but you really don't have to do all this," Shirou looked over the breakfast she'd made for all of them.

"Don't be silly, it's no trouble at all! I do this because I enjoy it!" Sakura exclaimed happily.

Shirou knelt down on his mat. "Hey, good morning Fuji-nee."

"Good morning," Taiga replied.

"Thank you for the food," Shirou said.

"Thank you for the food," Sakura echoed.

Shirou grabbed some soy sauce and poured it onto his rice.

Taiga let out an evil little laugh as Shirou bit into his rice, taking a big mouthful.

He resisted the urge to spit out his rice as he retched back spectacularly, falling backwards and rolling around on the floor, knocking over wall screens.

"What the hell, that's Worchester sauce!" Shirou choked, "talk about a bad combination, who could eat this stuff?!"

Garfield burst out laughing.

"Teach me your prankster ways, oh wise Fujimura sensei!" Garfield, Rachel's husband bowed, clasping his hands.

"Ha ha! Ha Ha Ha ha!" Taiga danced gleefully. "I snuck in and changed the labels on the sauce bottles earlier. Yay!" she stuck her tongue out at him.

"Fujimura sensei, you are a genius!" Gar bowed to her.

"Why thank you Gar!" Taiga grinned at him.

"Who pulls a stunt like that first thing in the morning?" Shirou complained. "I can't believe you're gonna be 25! Raven's 25 and she's way more mature than you are! I guess you're gonna be the same old Fuji-nee."

Taiga Fujimura continued to dance around.

"You deserved it, it's payback from yesterday!" She gulped down food.

"Shirou, drink tea!" Sakura handed him some tea to make him feel better.

"I was thinking you seemed awfully quiet, turns out it was because you were plotting this prank!"

"Damn straight!" Fujimura said triumphantly. "And thanks to you, I don't have nearly enough time to score some tests this morning! So I gotta run or I'll never get it done!"

"If you had scored them last night, you'd have more time to eat," Rachel observed.

"You're such a party pooper," Fujimura scowled at Raven.

"Thank you!" she called to them as she hopped on her moped.

"See you down at school. Make sure you don't get there late, and don't go back to sleep okay? Well I'm outta here!"

She prepared to peel out of there, "And Sakura, breakfast was as delicious as ever!" Fujimura drove off, but not before she ricocheted her moped off the sides of the street.

"Um, you're welcome I guess, Miss Fujimura," Sakura said in a quiet voice.

"I have to go too, see you at school Shirou, and I'll be tutoring you in English at your house later tonight!" Raven and Gar made their way to their car.

"All right!" Shirou called out to her.

Raven and Beast Boy got into the car.

"Rae, did something seem _off_ to you, about Sakura?" Gar glanced at his wife.

"You sensed it too?"

"Not the way you do with energies and stuff, but I swear I could hear something _crawling_ inside her."

"You can _hear_ the crest worms?" Raven asked, horrified. "I thought _sensing_ their presence was bad enough."

"The magical rape worms, yeah, I can hear him, it sounds like they're eating her alive."

"They _are_ ," Raven shuddered.

"Dude, so much nightmare fuel!" Beast Boy agreed, shivering.

Beast Boy looked at the road, "You said something big was goin' down, is it that Holy Grail War? Do you think Sakura's involved?"

"It most likely is," Raven replied, thoughtful. "As for Sakura, she could be involved. It's not beyond the realm of possibility."

"How do you know about it? Didn't you tell me it was supposed to be a secret?"

"When I fought Kiritsugu Emiya, I looked into his future and saw the 4th Hoy Grail War. This is the 5th, Shirou Emiya is getting dragged into it, whether he wants to fight or not."

"You're training him to be a hero, because he's a lot like you."

"Yes, his deepest wish is to be a hero of justice, just like mine was, when all I knew was that I would destroy the world, all I wanted was to be a hero of justice, to atone for destroying everything, and because of all of us, I did become a hero."

"You also said that someone else confirmed these Holy Grail Wars take place, right?"

"Yeah, Death the Endless incarnated herself to pay me a visit to complain about it," Raven sighed, "The Holy Grail War disrupts the life and death cycle unnecessarily, and Heroic Spirits annoy her. She can't send them to the afterlife properly and the body counts have been spiking since the third war."

"I see."

"She said she's also coming to Fuyuki to investigate what she called a "quirky anomaly." I feel sorry for whoever she visits. Unlucky sap."

"It's bad enough when Death wants to visit you, and it's worse when she looks like a hot chick!" Beast Boy shouted.

"Is there…any way we can help Sakura?"

"No, not unless I go into her mind, but that would break her, whatever she's hiding, she's really good at hiding it."

Beast Boy pulled the car to a stop, "We're here. I'll be leaving now."

"Say hi to the others for me!" Raven called to him. "Tell them to stop by the house while they're in Fuyuki!"

"You got it!" Beast Boy morphed into a bird and flew away.

Raven went inside the school to her classroom; she had a long day of lessons on Arthurian mythology ahead of her.

* * *

"Damn that Funji-nee," Shirou complained to Sakura. "Look, I know that she's the landlord's daughter, but why does she have to eat here every single day? She's no better than a freeloader!"

Shirou gulped down his nasty breakfast.

"Did you do something to her yesterday that made her want to pull that prank?" Sakura inquired.

"I accidentally called her by her nickname," Shirou explained, calling Taiga Fujimura "Tiger" always set her off.

"If that's the case then you deserved it," Sakura replied. "You should be careful, she hates her nickname, and she especially hates it when she hears it coming out of your mouth."

"Mmm," Shirou grunted to himself.

"In our next story, workers in a new building in New City's office district were discovered unconscious by relief shift workers and were taken to the hospital late last night," the news reporter on the TV said.

"Since the victims seemed to be suffering from hypoxia when found, they believe it may be the result of a gas leak."

"Did you hear that? Another gas leak in New City," Shirou gazed at the TV. "That's disturbing news. We gotta be careful too."

"You don't need to worry about that!" Sakura spoke quickly, "I've got it under control, I double check the gas valve every day, so we're safe!"

Shirou stared at her, "I think you missed the point."

Shirou and Sakura walked to school, they separated at the front gate, "Well work hard at club practice!"

"okay, thanks, but why don't you maybe stop by the dojo this morning."

"Thanks," Shirou apologized, "But I have to go to the student council office."

"Oh, yes, yes, of course!" Sakura stammered hastily. "I'm so sorry, please forget I asked. Well, I should get going. I'll cook something for dinner you like tonight okay?" She ran off.

Shirou made his way to the student council office, his friend Issei was waiting for him.

"The schools budgeting priorities are completely out of whack," Issei Ryuudou complained.

"Yeah, athletic clubs get most of the budget, and everybody else gets the crumbs." Shirou was busy repairing a damaged heater.

"And so the non athletic club rooms are in bad shape," Issei concluded. "They've given zero thought to how to deal with our heater problem."

"You're kidding me! There are more broken heaters?"

"There are," Isseei told him.

Shirou touched the heater, "Like I figured; this one's just showing its age."

"Yes but can you fix it, Emiya?" Issei asked eagerly.

"I can."

"That's a relief."

"I'll have it fixed in a jiffy, Issei, could you wait outside?"

"Of course, I'll get out of your way," Issei left the room.

Shirou shut his eyes and let mana flow into the heater.

"Okay," he used his magecraft to perform a structural analysis of the heater.

"There are two spots where the heating element is about to break…" Shirou told himself. "The heat transfer pipe is still good. I can patch the electrical cord with power tape for now."

Shirou finished his repairs and finished putting the heater back together. He was just putting a piece of electrical tape on the power cord when he heard Issei's voice.

"T-Tohsaka…" Issei stammered.

"Tohsaka?" Shirou was surprised; honor student Rin Tohsaka didn't usually come to school this early.

"Well, student council president, are you really patrolling the campus this early in the morning. Or is it maintenance on the club rooms?" Rin asked. "Not that I care either way, ever the diligent student."

"Hmm," Issei smirked, "And what might you have up your sleeve this morning? I know you aren't in any clubs, so why are you here so early?"

"I felt like it that's all," Rin retorted.

"Okay Issei, I fixed it!"

Shirou carried the heater out of the room and set it down.

"Thanks a lot, I asked for your help and then you ended up doing everything," Issei apologized. "I'm very sorry, Emiya."

"It's okay, where's the next one?" Shirou asked him. "We don't have much time."

"Right, it's over in the AV room, they say it's been acting up lately, but I think it's finally lived out its lifespan."

"If it's dead, I can't fix that. Why don't you buy a new one? It'd be quicker."

"That's true, but I'd appreciate it if you'd take a look at it anyway. I mean, It looked lifeless to me, but you may be able to see if it's just faking it."

"Okay, I'll give it a try," Shirou told his friend.

Rin Tohsaka began walking away.

"I didn't know you came to school this early," Shirou told her.

"Hmm?" Rin asked curiously, she continued walking down the hall.

Issei and Shirou left.

"The Art Club stove will have to wait until lunch."

"You're quite the busy bee, Emiya," Shinji Matou said in a condescending tone of voice. "I was wondering what you'd been up to after quitting the club."

If anyone deserved to be punched in the face repeatedly, it was Shinji Matou.

Shinji's face was smug. "So you're the student council's errand boy?"

Issei moved to defend Shirou, but Shirou held him back, "If you need anything, just let me know Shinji. If it's something I can help with, I will. You were never good at mending bows, or restringing them for that matter."

"Uh, I don't need or want your help!" Shinji snapped, pointing at him. "Besides, you're not a club member anymore! So stay out of the dojo if you know what's good for you!"

The irritable young teen stomped off in a huff.

"Matou's a real jerk, talking to you that way after he's the one who single-handedly drove you from the club," Issei sighed.

"It's okay. That's just the way he is. You get used to it the longer you know him."

"Really? You do, do you?" Issei sighed.

"Yes, I'm afraid you do," Shirou replied.

The school bell rang.

"Look out, Miss Fujimura is about to barrel in," Shirou went over to his seat and sat down.

Taiga Fujimura rushed to the door, missing it by a foot, but she made it inside.

"Yes! Made it on time! Yay!" Taiga pirouetted joyfully. The Human Jet Coaster didn't jet coast herself into the floor today.

I'm going to take attendance now!"

Later that day, Issei was eating lunch as Shirou fixed the Art Club stove.

"Emiya, you better hurry and eat before the lunch break ends and you have to go back to class," Issei warned Shirou.

"It's okay, I'm just about finished," Shiriou continued his repairs.

"I can't believe you're not only fixing heaters, but also personal items for other people."

"Like they say, in for a penny, in for a pound," Shirou kept working.

"Ugh, I know you like being Mister Nice Guy, and being helpful is great, but you should _really_ learn to say "No" sometimes. You take "turn no one away" way too far."

Shirou frowned, "Hmm, do I look that unprincipled to you?"

Issei turned away from the table and looked at Shirou. "Look, you're opening yourself to be taken advantage of by the inconsiderate. You could think about turning people down every once in awhile."

"I'm afraid not, Issei. What's wrong with helping others? As heir to a temple, you shouldn't think that."

"Emiya, I'm just saying that you take it too far," Issei scolded him. "If you keep going like this, it'll burn you out!"

"Thank you, that's dually noted," Shirou finished his work. "There! I'm all done!"

Later that day, Shirou sat in Rachel Roth's mythology class.

"Shirou, read the next paragraph please," Raven instructed him.

"All right," Shirou stood up.

"But Arthur sprang to his feet in a great fury, drawing his sword and shouting in defiance at king Pellinore, who whereupon came down from his horse and drew his own sword. Then began a fierce battle, with many great strokes; they hacked and hewed at one another, cutting pieces off their shields and armor, and suffering each of them so man wounds that the trampled grass of the pavilion was stained with red. They rested once, and charged each other again: but their swords met with so mighty a crash that Arthur's broke in two, leaving him with a useless hilt in his hand."

"Thank you Shirou," Rachel told him. She continued speaking.

Shirou had always enjoyed the class because it was about historical heroes. Even if the reports were long and the books could be rather slow. The stories that he found interesting he would devour quickly.

Later that evening Shirou was walking up the hill towards his house. It was late and there was no one out.

He glanced up, startled by the sight of someone at the top of the hill.

There was a little white-haired girl smiling at him. Shirou thought it was odd that a little girl would be out so late at night.

Shirou kept walking, she passed by him, but not before he caught sight of her smile that sent a shiver down his spine.

"If you don't summon yours soon, you're gonna die, big brother!" she said in a serious voice.

Shirou gasped, turned and looked back, there was no one there, he was alone.

When he got home, Taiga Fujimura lectured him. "You should really come home early at times like this. Weren't you listening to me in homeroom?"

"Well, um, I had to do some errands," Shirou explained.

Taiga sighed, "Don't tell me you were trying to help someone again! You're a lot like Kiritsugu, trying so hard for others, and it makes me worry about you."

"Excuse me, Miss Fujimura?" Sakura asked. "I have been wondering if Shirou has always been this way."

"Yeah," Fuji-nee replied. "For as long as I've known him, as you can see, Shirou can't turn away anyone who's in trouble, I guess that's his personality."

"To help the weak and crush the strong!" he used to say. When he was younger Shirou wrote, "My dream when I grow up is to become a hero of justice!" It was quite an essay!"

Sakura gasped, clapping her hands, "Sounds like he was amazing when he was young too!"

"Well you can chalk that up to Fuji-nee," Shirou let his annoyance show. "When kids are around immature adults, they try not to follow them too close."

Shirou gestured at her with his hand, "Now if you don't agree with me, then cook your own damn meal for once."

Taiga gasped in mock horror, "Wha-?" she feigned crying. "You bring me to the brink of tears!"

She slumped her shoulders, but perked up immediately, "Sakura dear! Refill please!"

There was a knock on the door, "Shirou can I come in?"

"Yes, Miss Rachel, the door is open," Shirou called to his teacher.

Rachel took off her shoes at the door, "Sorry, I didn't know I interrupted dinner."

"Please have some Miss Roth," Sakura offered her some food.

"Hello Fujimura, it's nice to see you," Raven greeted her.

"Now Rachel, I know you're a friend of Kiritsugu's but that doesn't mean you can give Shirou a free pass in his mythology class!"

"I'm tutoring Shirou in other school subjects, and not my mythology class," Rachel grinned.

"And which class is that?" Taiga queried.

"Your English class Miss Fujimura," Raven laughed.

"It's not fair; you're fluent in English, so you're giving Shirou a huge advantage!" Taiga whined.

"I'm fluent in English, German, Latin, Romanian, Ancient Sumerian, and Sanskrit," Raven continued laughing, "So you're right, it's not really fair."

After they finished eating, Taiga and Sakura left for the night. Shirou headed over to the shed with Raven.

They both sat down cross-legged. Raven always taught him in English, because he needed to learn to focus.

"Shall we begin?" Raven asked.

"All right, Trace On," Shirou nodded.

"Tracing basic structure. Now tracing basic materials," Shirou continued. "Altering structure, begin."

Raven watched as the mana glowed, tracing a path down his arm. Shirou touched the metal pipe.

"Component materials, strengthening," Shirou began concentrating.

The mana transferred itself from his arm to the pipe, it glowed normally, but something felt off.

It suddenly began to fizzle and turn an ugly bright orange color.

Raven felt his circuits break, that wasn't supposed to happen.

"Damn I failed again; this is so basic I can't believe I still can't do it! I'll always be a novice!"

"It took me years to learn how to control my powers, and you're not a novice, I've taught you plenty, but your natural talents are very difficult to learn, let alone master."

"This is so frustrating. I can't figure it out. How am I going to become a hero of justice?"

"It'll take time, but you'll get it." Raven leaned over his shoulder, "But I'm disturbed that your magic circuit keeps breaking, are you using your natural circuits?"

"I thought I had to create a new circuit every time I use my magic," Shirou looked over at her.

"And what are you using every time you make a new circuit?" Raven asked, his technique was both wrong and dangerous.

"My nerves," Shirou replied.

Raven took the pipe and hit him over the head with it, none too gently either. Raven hit him again twice, then three more times. She knew if Beast Boy were here, he would have laughed at them; it looked like it came straight out of a cartoon.

"Shirou! You're _frying_ your body every time to activate your magic circuits?! Do you know how _dangerous_ that is?! If I did that every time I had to use magic, I'd end up killing myself!"

"S-sorry, I was just trying so hard to do it I—" Shirou stammered, embarrassed and ashamed.

Raven patted his head affectionately.

"It's okay; you take this so seriously, take it easy. I'm going to open your magic circuits, and then we'll try this again."

"Rachel, do you have magic circuits?" Shirou asked curiously.

"No, I don't," Raven replied.

"You don't? But how can you use magic?" Shirou didn't understand, Rachel broke the rules of the world completely.

"I come from a dimension called Azarath, and the magic I was born with is vastly different from your own, because of my father."

The young mage was surprised.

"Azarath, but I thought that dimension was a myth, a realm filled with mana, buildings made of gold and streets of marble. Where pacifists meditate day and night in peace and serenity."

"Stand up Shirou, I'm going to open your magic circuits," Raven told him.

He stood up as she placed her hands on his shoulders.

Raven chanted, "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos."

 _"AAARRRGH!"_ Shirou screamed as he felt her magical power surging through his body, flooding his magic circuits with energy.

Raven let him go and caught him as he collapsed.

He was breathing hard for a minute. Then she told him to sit back down and try again.

"Trace on!" Shirou concentrated.

He could see it in his mind, a beautiful golden sword.

"And let the energy flow through your entire body, feel your thoughts giving it power and form," Raven glanced over at Shirou. "Good Shirou, you've—"

The sword shattered and fell to pieces, "—almost got it."

Shirou watched the pieces vanish.

"You're focusing on strengthening when you need to focus on projection. Shirou, you've read the books I let you borrow?"

"I've read all of them, the knowledge is in my head, but when I try to apply it, it just doesn't happen."

Shirou sighed, "I'm a horrible student. I'm sorry I disappointed you, Rachel."

"Nonsense, over the last five years, you've mastered alchemy, runes, bounded fields, and structural analysis. Besides projection magic is a very specialized field and it's very difficult to master, most mages think it's useless, but they're wrong."

"How do you know so much about projection?" Shirou was amazed at her vast knowledge, it seemed to be limitless.

"Projection is _my_ specialty," Raven held up her hand. "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos."

A blade formed in her hand, made of pitch black energy.

He swung the pipe at her; she used her energy knife to block it.

"Amazing! It's not like a real sword at all! But you can still fight with it!"

"No, every time I use my power, I put a little of my soul into the object I move," Raven smiled. "Give it time and you'll be able to do projection magic soon, but I should examine you to make sure you're all right."

She ran her hand down his back. Shirou grunted in pain.

"How do you feel?"

"My left side's numb and my center of gravity feels off," Shirou replied.

"Consider yourself lucky," Raven told him, "I expected some necrosis. It looks like something that was closed has opened."

"Something that was closed has opened?" Shirou asked.

"Circuits you were supposed to use went dormant when you neglected them for so long, don't worry, the numbness will go away."

"When I suddenly flooded the circuits you weren't using with mana at full power, I essentially threw them into a state of intense shock. However, it means that those circuits are now active."

Raven pressed down on his spine and Shirou screamed. She saw his circuits glow visibly green as the mana flooded his body.

Shirou gasped.

"There, you should make a full recovery in a few days, and by that time, you should be a slightly better mage than you were before."

She glanced over at him, "And give projection magic a rest while you wait for the numbness to go way, then we'll do this exercise again Try it too early and you go numb again."

"Okay, got it!" Shirou told her. He was so relieved, he'd finally be able to do something with his magecraft.

"I have something for you," Raven pulled out what appeared to be an ordinary mirror.

"Take my hand," she instructed.

"What is it?" Shirou glanced at the mirror.

"It's a portal into your mind," Raven replied. Suddenly, he felt himself being puled inside somewhere.

Shirou landed on the ground hard, he climbed to his feet.

Before him was a vast hill, swords as far as the eye could see. They were embedded in the sand. There were so many, from various eras and in different shapes and designs.

"Huh?" Shirou asked himself. He turned to Raven.

"Rachel, is this…a reality marble?" Shirou stared at the vast landscape in awe. Could they really be inside his mind?

"No Shirou, this is a mirror for meditation, it's a portal into the mind, but it's not a reality marble. It's not a forbidden spell that manifests the caster's inner world; rather, the mirror pulls its user into their inner world from the outside. This mental landscape doesn't encroach on reality."

Shirou glanced at her, "But why is mine a hill of swords?"

"Only you can know that, before you do your training, I want you to meditate. It will help you focus. The mirror I'm giving you is yours; please remember it's not a toy."

"I see, why would you give me this?" Shirou was curious.

"Because you have a lot of issues to deal with, and many of them are mental Shirou. If you want to become a hero, you have to come to terms with yourself, and you still haven't done that yet."

Shirou felt confused. "I don't understand."

"You'll understand eventually, Shirou, don't rush yourself with things."

"All right," he smiled.

"Let's stay here and meditate for awhile. They sat down began to meditate.

The sound of "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos," echoed through the mental landscape, and Shirou let himself relax.

Shirou wondered why he couldn't find that golden sword he'd seen in his mind earlier.


	3. Winter Days, a Fateful Night Part 2

**Winter Days, a Fateful Night Part 2**

 ** _Author's Note:_** _Didn't want to just do an annoying copy paste of episode two of the anime so I thought, "How can I make this different? I recently watched the Justice League episodes for "A Knight of Shadows" so I thought, "Why not bring Jason Blood into it?" Considering his origin story in the animated series, his interactions with Saber would be interesting, and the idea that the King does not understand others. The fall of Camelot would be from the animated series; Mordred will be here in the modern era like in Justice League, but no whining, petulant brat here, only the raging Berserker from the Nasuverse, with overbearing mommy in tow._

 _Merlin's background is from the DCUniverse, because Etrigan the rhyming demon is his half brother. Threw in a little bit the New 52 in here with Merlin being the founder of Stormwatch. Other than that, his personality is that from the Nasuverse._

 _Shining Knight will be here too, later. Also decided to pair of Saber with Jason Blood/Etrigan, because they both really need to catch a break._

 _And Shining Knight is here too!_

* * *

Jason Blood lies on the couch of Raven Roth's house and dreams, it's the same dream. He has it every night. For the last 1,500 years, he's dreamed of that fateful day at Camelot.

 _"The King needs you on the south tower, hurry!" Jason called to a pair of knights._

 _"But the gates!" he protested._

 _"I'll stay and guard them! Hurry!" he watched them leave and Jason pulled off his helmet._

 _Groaning and grunting with effort, he removed the lock barring the gate, letting in swarms of Morgan Le Fay's soldiers, monstrous creatures, but he didn't care, Jason would be able to be with the sorceress forever now that Arthur's Camelot fell._

 _"Did Arturia think that mere walls would keep us apart?" Morgan La Fay approached him._

 _"The king…she does not understand others, she only thinks of herself, and being the "perfect" king. But let's not speak of her again. Morgan, my love, your beauty has possessed me, how I've longed to hold you, to feel you in my arms again."_

 _"I too, have dreamed of this moment," Morgan Le Fay leaned in close, as if to kiss him, her teeth became pointed like the fangs of a snake. She bit his lips._

 _"Gah" Jason groaned, staggering back, falling to his knees, he clutched at his throat as the poison began to take effect._

 _"But why?!" he asked, horrified, had he not done everything she'd asked of him, stealing away Avalon, the King's scabbard and unlocking the gates of Camelot?_

 _"For love of course, the love of my daughter, Camelot's new ruler!" She walked casually passed her lover's dying corpse._

 _"We've been betrayed! For Arthur! For Camelot!" the other knights had returned and seen what they had done, they began fighting Morgan Le Fay's soldiers._

 _Jason's head dropped to the floor as he died._

 _"Art thou satisfied, villain?" Merlin asked him._

 _"By base treachery, Camelot will fall, this day."_

 _"You could never understand, Merlin. You who are not a man, and have never known the sweetness of a woman's kiss."_

 _"A viper's kiss, Jason Blood. The kiss of a demon in human form," Merlin scolded him. "All my great dreams are undone in the name of thy tainted love!"_

 _"I have paid for my crime with my life! Is that not enough?" Jason asked._

 _"Nay! Such swift mercy is not for the likes of thee!" Merlin raised his hands, "Thou art cursed, Jason Blood, until the day this monstrous deed is atoned. To mark thy eternal shame, I hereby bind thy soul to a creature of the pit! Look now and see the face spawned of thy lust, the face of thy perdition, the face of thy inner demon!"_

 _He never forgot the agony he's experienced being bound to Etrigan, that memory had been seared into his mind forever…_

Jason Blood awoke with a start, the sweat poured down his face. He ran his fingers through his hair and sighed.

He recalled that day so well, but after many long centuries, he often wondered why Morgan Le Fay had never shown him what Arturia Pendragon truly looked like, he had never seen her true appearance as a woman. He had seen an approximation of her face, despite the fact that Merlin cast a spell that made her appear to them in the form of a man, he had always remembered the King's striking blonde hair, a trait they say came from Igraine, and not Uther Pendragon.

Morgan had given him many proofs of Arthur's true gender, but not once had he been shown the king's true physical appearance, he had seen Mordred's face and had been told that was "Arthur's" true face, but he'd never seen it with his own eyes. Jason had found the face he'd seen to be pretty, but Le Fay had wanted to make sure that Jason had only been bewitched by the sorceress's beauty, and not the king's, but still, falling in love with the king who was seen by all as a man would cause all sorts of problems, not only with the church, but revealing the king's true gender would have thrown the realm into chaos, a chaos Morgan Le Fay couldn't take advantage of because it could expose Mordred's gender as Arturia's clone as well.

He had come to Fuyuki City to investigate the so-called "gas leaks" but he suspected that magecraft was behind it. He was unsure of the magician's identity because he hadn't been able confirm that the victims' youth had been drained, a common trait Morgan Le Fay did to keep herself beautiful.

"Why am I even here?" Jason asked himself.

Who was he kidding, he was hoping beyond all hope that he would see the King again, that he could fall on his knees and beg her forgiveness.

Perhaps she would give him the fitting death he deserved, and slay him with her Holy sword, Excalibur.

"Raven, is she coming back again? The catalyst to summon her disappeared ten years ago. I've tried to find it to summon her." Jason asked as Raven walked into the room.

"Yes, my apprentice will be her Master, and soon I will teach him to summon her properly, but I do wonder why you didn't speak to her 10 years ago during the Fourth Holy Grail War."

"I had an altercation with Le Fay preventing her from finding Avalon, when Jubstacheit spirited it away to the Einnsbern Castle, after Kirisugu summoned Arturia, I tried to find her, she always eluded me. But when I was able to find her, when I finally saw her again, she had suffered another betrayal, her Master, that man Kiritsugu Emiya, sullied her honor by viciously murdering the Lancer, Diarmuid Ua Duibhne and his Masters Kayneth El-Melloi Archibald and Sola-Ui Nuada-Re Sophia-Ri during the Fourth Holy Grail War 10 years ago. I could not come to her while she was in that state; I would only cause her more pain."

"I have tried to be chosen by the Grail since the First Holy Grail War, and although I am an exceptionally powerful mage, the Grail rejects me; perhaps it is a punishment for a man who sought it out long ago, heh. It has never chosen me as a Master. And now it has chosen a boy, barely an apprentice, as Saber's Master. I suppose it's for the best, she would hate serving me. It's better this way. How did he obtain a catalyst to summon her?"

"That's not something you need to know," Raven replied. "Could it be that Jason Blood, a Knight Camelot, is jealous of an aspiring Mage?"

"It's petty, I know, but he'll be loyal to her, always at her side, like I should have been."

Raven scowled at him, "The Mages Association kills anyone who witnesses the Holy Grail War. You can't get involved."

"Tell that to them, I witnessed many battles of the Fourth Holy Grail War and yet I live. Concealing my presence from them is child's play," Jason sighed, "They're all so petty, the Mages Association, they're too afraid of me to even try to go after me. They're just a bunch of petty squabblers."

"I dislike the Mages Association as much as you do, but I like Jason Blood, a member of the Justice League and a good man. It's Etrigan that I fight with, not Jason Blood. So tell me, since you know the source of the gas leaks is not Morgan Le Fay, why are you _really_ here?"

"I'm here because _she's_ coming, and once she's here it will lure Morgan Le Fay out of hiding. And I'm not a good man, maybe I was once, but that was a long time ago."

"You're a member of the Justice League; you are still a good person. Now Batman, on the other hand, deep down he's not a good person. That aside, she's not going to like that," Raven crossed her arms.

"She's not going to want to speak to me at all," Jason sighed, "But if I have to use Arturia to get to Le Fay, it'll be worth it."

"Use her? In what way?" Raven smirked. "You sound almost sinister."

"Just as bait, nothing more, I don't have _feelings_ for her or anything, I haven't even seen her true face."

"But you've seen Mordred's face, and it's the same face," Raven observed.

"It's not the same; Mordred never carried herself with the dignity and bearing of a true king. Just because it's the same face doesn't make it the same person."

Raven poked him in the shoulder with her finger.

"You won't antagonize my apprentice, Shirou's a kind hearted boy, and the last thing he needs is a rivalry with you over someone he hasn't even met yet."

"I'll leave him in peace, don't worry about it," Jason Blood gazed up at the moon.

"Are you actually going to speak to her this time?" Raven asked.

"If she will permit me, then I will speak to her," Jason replied. He wondered just how their reunion would turn out.

In one day, the Fifth Holy Grail War would begin.

* * *

Shirou Emiya was fascinated by the meditation mirror Rachel had given him. He could hardly believe she had been a superhero. He remembered seeing video of them saving Tokyo a long time ago, and he wondered what made him so special that she chose to take him as her apprentice.

He was so fascinated with his inner world, the one inside his mind. Shirou wondered what it all meant, and just what he was supposed to do with all the swords he saw in his mental landscape. Shirou had to remind himself to literally not get lost in his own head.

The next day he went about his morning chores and headed in for breakfast. Sakura Matou turned around and pulled out more dishes from a cabinet.

"Sakura, wait a second," Shriou noticed something was wrong.

"What's wrong?" Sakura asked him, curious.

"What happened to your hand?" he asked, noticing a strange bruise.

Sakura whimpered and quickly covered her hand.

"It's Shinji again, isn't it?!" Shirou said angrily. "What's the thinking, raising a hand to his sister?!"

"No, my brother didn't hurt me!" Sakura protested. I, um, got this, when I tripped and fell earlier today!" The fib was so bad, even Shirou knew she was lying.

"You can't get a bruise like this from falling!" Shirou told her.

Sakura shifted her weight, looking away from him. It confirmed Shirou's suspicions.

"I knew it!"

"But my brother had nothing to do with this, honest! I got hurt by myself and that's all!"

Shirou gasped, blinked and sighed. "If that's what you say happened, then I'll just leave it at that."

"It is, I'm very sorry, Shirou," Sakura apologized.

'I don't get what you're apologizing for Sakura, Shinji's the one to blame."

"Oh Shirou, is that your famous rolled omelets I smell?" Taiga Fujimura exclaimed excitedly. She waved her hand expressively as she glanced over at them. "Huh?" she was confused.

Shirou walked towards school, noting the police had cordoned off a nearby house with crime scene tape.

Later Shirou sat at his school desk. "Ah, hello Emiya, shall we eat our lunch?"

"Oh no, sorry Issei, I'm getting at the cafeteria," Shirou replied.

"But you never eat in there, did something happen?" Issei was surprised; this wasn't Shirou's normal routine.

"Not really," Shirou looked at him.

"Right," Issei replied.

"Ryudou, do you have a minute?" Kuzuki asked as he entered the rom.

"Huh? I'm here sir," Issei replied quickly. "How can I help you Mr. Kuzuki?"

Shirou headed out to the cafeteria. He decided get something from the vending machine for lunch.

"Hmm," a voice said behind him, "Going for the chef's special today huh, don't you usually eat lunch with the student council president?"

It was his friend Ayako Mitsusuri; she was on the archery club.

"Yeah, hey Mitsusuri, has Sakura seemed okay to you lately?" Shirou asked, trying to make sense of Sakura's odd behavior at breakfast.

"Sakura, yeah, she's practicing her heart out," Ayako replied. "It's her brother that's the problem. He's been tearing into the first year boys something awful."

"What for?" Shirou asked, wanting to know. They both got their lunch after giving the cafeteria lady their order.

"From what I hear he got into it with Tohsaka and got shot down pretty hard," Ayako explained to him.

"Tohsaka!" Shirou exclaimed, surprised. Rin Tohsaka was the most popular student in school and everyone wanted to date her. It was not at all surprised she'd turned him down.

"Hey, keep your voice down!" Ayako shushed him.

"Oh!" Shirou shut his mouth, clapping his hand over it.

"Well, anyway, Shinji's been in a really foul mood ever since it happened, "Ayako sighed, "I've had to keep a close eye on him during practice to keep him in line, so I'm exhausted."

"Yeah, Shinji does have a nasty temper all right," Shirou agreed.

"I'm just worried he'll do something to her for revenge," Ayako voiced her concern.

"I really don't think you have to worry," Shirou reassured her, "He would avoid someone who rejected him."

"Yeah, but there's no way he can avoid her, if she comes to where he is," Ayako told him as she ate.

"Huh?" Shirou was surprised.

"I don't what's going on, but Tohsaka has been coming to watch at the dojo a lot lately," Ayako was just as confused as he was. "But then again, you probably don't know since you quit the club."

"Oh yeah, it was hilarious, he got so scared he almost peed his pants!" Shinji was telling a pair of girls a story of how he'd scared the first year archery students. They were laughing.

Later that day, Shirou stopped by the archery dojo.

"When Shinji gets mad, he just doesn't know when to stop," Shirou said to himself, looking to see if anyone was inside.

"Hey! You there!" a voice called to him. He managed to avoid a pole used for high jumping that was swung at his face.

"Shinji Matou, I hate to break it to you, but Rin Tohsaka isn't going to show up, no matter how long you wait!" Maki informed him, brandishing the pole.

"Huh?" Shirou asked, confused and bewildered.

Maki, this guy doesn't match the description Mitsusuri gave us," one of the other girls told him. "He doesn't have seaweed hair either."

"The way I see it, he just wet down his naturally curly hair to straighten it," she pointed the pole at him, "And a face this stupid could only belong to Shinji Matou!"

"You've got it all wrong, I'm not Shinji, okay!" Shirou explained.

Maki pointed at him, "See what I mean, that's what the bad guys always say!"

One of the girls walked up to him, "Wait a second. I'm sorry, but could you mind showing your student ID to us?"

He showed her his ID, Student: _Shirou Emiya, Class 2C_.

Maki dropped the pole and began shaking nervously.

"Like he said, we got the wrong guy cornered," one of the other girls, one with brown hair told Maki.

"Emiya? That Emiya? The guy who fixes our gear whenever he has a moment to spare. That one, the one they call the Homurahara Brownie?"

"I've never heard that nickname before, but I do know the president of the track club."

Maki was shaking and waving about expressively. She knelt on the ground before him. "I'm sorry!"

"We're sorry," the brown haired girl apologized. "It seemed you were looking for someone so we just assumed you were Matou."

"It's okay," he told them, "What was that you said about Tohsaka not coming here? Did something happen to her?"

"She stayed home and said she wasn't coming in today," the red haired girl told him.

"Yeah, Tohsaka's sick dude! She said she had a cold so she's gonna hang out in bed today. Can you believe a model student like her is capable of catching a common cold?"

The purple haired girl sat on Maki like a chair as she groaned in pain.

"We're very sorry, Emiya, especially for our exotic beast here," the purple haired girl said to him. "But you shouldn't be here either. Weren't you told that students with no club meetings were to go straight home?"

"No I wasn't, why?" Shirou replied. This was the first time he'd heard of it.

The purple haired girl gasped. "You don't know? There was a very terrible murder at an intersection very near our school. Of a family of four, the only survivor was a little kid. The parents and older daughter were stabbed to death. The killer is still at large. And everybody's freaking out about how it seems like a random killing. In New City they have those gas leaks; over here we have a grisly murder. With all that happening it's no wonder they're sending students home early."

On his way to the bus, Shirou stopped at the intersection, glancing at the crime scene tape.

"I don't need reminding," Shirou said to himself. "Helping others and being a Hero of Justice aren't the same thing."

Shirou remembered sitting in a hospital bed shortly after he had been rescued by Kiristugu.

He saw Kiritsugu talking to a nurse. "I see, thank you."

He approached Shirou.

"Hello, you must be Shirou," Kiritsugu Emiya greeted him. "I'll suppose I'll come right out and ask you what you would prefer, being sent off to an orphanage or being taken in by a man you just met."

Shirou was very thoughtful, holding his chin, folding his arms, trying to decide what to do. Eventually, he pointed at Kiritsugu, too shy to say anything.

Kiritisugu's smile was radiant.

"I'm glad! Then let's get you dressed right away, you need to get acclimated to your new home as soon as possible."

"Oh," Kiritsugu laughed to himself, "I forgot to mention something you should know. I have to tell you an extremely important fact. Ready? Yeah, I should do this right now. You see Shirou, I am a Mage."

Shirou opened his eyes, bringing himself back to the present. "It's too early to go to work."

He remembered that day so vividly, when Kiritsugu found him in the rubble of the Fuyuki fire.

"He's alive, thank God! He's alive!" Kiritsugu wept with joy. "Thank you! Thank you! I'm so glad I found you! I'm so glad I found someone! I have been saved!"

"Something on your mind Shirou?" Raven asked as she joined him on the park bench.

"I was just thinking….about ten years ago, when Kiritsugu saved me."

"Tell me, what do you remember?" Raven asked.

"It's all very murky, but the only thing I remember of that day ten years ago is that it was hot, and that I couldn't breathe, and that I was trying to save someone, but that someone ended up dying after all."

"Death the Endless comes for us all, even I've died, Shirou, she's a natural part of life."

Shirou gawked a little, "You've died?!"

"A few times in fact, but I've always somehow been resurrected by somebody, death can be cheap in my line of work."

"I just wish I could have saved them. It makes me mad when people who try so hard die anyway. Is it greedy for me to wish for an outcome where everyone is saved and shares their happiness with others?"

Shirou looked at her, "I asked Kiritsugu that question once, he told me "It's not that simple, what you're describing is trying to save everyone in the world, Shirou."

"The kid me listened, but wasn't convinced by Kiritsugu's answer. I mean, he saved my life right? I knew he was a mage who could do just about anything. So I asked Kiritsugu if he could have saved everyone back then, and if he could, why didn't he? But his answer confused me, "Shirou, choosing to save someone means choosing not to save another. No matter what your intention is, you can only save those on your side. I know it should be obvious, but that's the definition of a Hero of Justice."

Shirou looked at Raven, "I understand that now, when you put it like that it's obvious. But still, but still I hate it. I don't care about salvation that's limited to a set number of people, I can't bear seeing others dying around me like they did that day."

"Don't worry, Shirou, you can save everyone. I have, Batman has, Superman has, we've saved everyone on this planet and it doesn't matter what "side" they were on, everyone can be saved, it may seem impossible, but the impossible is something I do all the time."

She pulled him to his feet, "Come on, I'll walk with you to the Copenhagen. I'm meeting a friend there for a few drinks, apparently, he's excited because he's going to see an old friend, at least he thinks he is, who knows? He decided to celebrate early. So unfortunately for you, no magecraft lessons tonight, but I will definitely teach you something important tomorrow, so come straight home after school."

"I see," Shirou replied. "I'll come straight home tomorrow night."

They headed to the Copenhagen where Raven saw a blonde haired young man sitting at a table.

"Shirou this is the Shining Knight, he was a Knight of the Round Table, in King Arthur's Court, he was frozen in an icy crevasse where he was stuck for 1,500 years."

"Really, how are you handling the modern world?"

"It has its quirks, the morality is questionable, but there are still good people here," Shining Knight smiled. "So this is your apprentice I've heard so many good things about eh? Nice to meet you, I best let you start working."

Shirou left them to start work.

"I must say Raven, when you told me the truth about the King's gender, I was surprised. It explains why succession was such an issue and why Queen Guinevere was never able to conceive an heir. She was still the greatest King who ever lived, and I am proud to have served her. Does she know that I live in this era?"

"She didn't, but then again, you don't live in Fuyuki City, where she participated in the Fourth Holy Grail War."

"That she wanted to undo her rule as King makes me sad, she was not perfect, and we didn't always understand her, but she was a fair and just ruler."

"She doesn't see it that way, I think seeing you again would help her immensely, but I can't make any promises you'll get to see her."

"Still, I celebrate the good King of Knights imminent return!" Shining Knight said; raising their glasses, he and Raven drank a toast to Arturia Pendragon.

* * *

Shirou headed home after work and glancing up, he thought he could see using his magically enhanced vision, Rin Tohsaka looking out over the city atop a skyscraper.

He looked again, but she was gone, "That was Tohsaka, wasn't it?"

found Taiga Fujimura sitting on the couch watching TV.

Shirou noticed Sakura was gone. "Hmm, where's Sakura?"

"She was feeling kind of tired and needed to go home early tonight," Taiga informed him.

"Why'd you let her go home by herself, it's too dangerous! You were the one who warned us both it wasn't safe to go out alone right now. Don't you remember?"

"Don't worry, I sent one of my guys with her so she'll be fine!" Taiga reassured him.

"You know you should have been the one to go; you are a teacher after all," Shirou scolded her.

"If I did that I wouldn't be able to eat dinner until after ten 'oh clock, anyway don't blame me, it's your own fault for coming in so late because of work. My stomach always waits patiently for you on workdays."

"It does huh; you do know you have to option of eating dinner at your own house, don't you."

Taiga looked up, "but I've told you Shirou, this is my own house."

"Yeah, right. Huh, what's this?" Shirou asked, glancing down at a rolled up poster.

"They gave it to me, but I didn't need it, so you can have it if you want," Taiga told him.

"That's okay, I don't want either!" Shirou suddenly swung the poster, aiming for her head, Taiga ducked and grabbed her own poster, hitting him in the head.

"Ha, ha! You're sadly mistaken if you think you can hit me, Mr. Novice!" Taiga told him triumphantly. "If you don't like it, I suggest you take time to practice more. But more importantly Shirou, I'm really hungry! I've been waiting like a good girl so hurry up and make dinner already!"

Taiga whined a little.

"Yeah, yeah," Shirou sighed, it was another long night, he was disappointed that Rachel had an appointment that kept him from his lessons, but there was always tomorrow night.


	4. Winter Days, a Fateful Night Part 3

**A Fateful Night Part 3**

 ** _Author's Note:_** _In Teen Titans, Raven is OP, in Fate/Stay Night;_ everyone _is OP, so it's OP VS. OP, oh boy! And yeah, Etrigan is OP too, almost killed Wonder Woman in Hell. He can fight Lobo, DCU is very OP, the Justice League cartoon nerfed him a lot._

* * *

Shirou locked his door on his way out to go to school.

"Shirou, sorry but after tonight I won't be able to help out with dinner for awhile," Sakura Matou apologized to him. "I hope you don't mind."

"Sure don't worry about it, besides it's the weekend, you should be hanging out with your friends."

"What?" Sakura shook her head. "No it's not like that! It's a personal thing I have to take care of, but I'll still be going to all of the club practices! So if anything comes up don't hesitate to come to the dojo and I'll see what I can do! I mean it, it's not like I'm goofing off just because it's the weekend!"

Shirou's eyes widened in surprise, and Sakura blushed. "I mean, I just—I'd appreciate it if you didn't get the wrong idea about all this."

"I understand, if something comes up, I'll go to the dojo," Shirou replied.

"Good," Sakura Matou told him. "That would be great Shirou, thank you."

Sakura noticed something on Shirou's hand, she gasped, "Oh, your hand! Look!"

Shirou noticed the strange bruise on his hand, "Where'd this come from? I must have cut myself when I was tinkering with my own junk. It doesn't hurt so I'm sure it will fade soon. My hand's fine; nothing to worry about!"

"Okay, then if you say so I won't worry," Sakura told him.

Shirou head to school, feeling visibly sick as he passed through the Bounded Field.

 _Rachel, why is there a Bounded Field here at school?_ Shirou asked her in his thoughts.

 _You sensed it, good; you've retained what I've taught you. I've been disrupting the Bounded Field as much as I can after school, but it always comes back the next day, the spell caster must be here on school grounds._

 _It's not safe here, you should go home right after school,_ Rachel told him.

After school, Shirou stopped quickly to talk to Issei Ryuudou.

"Thanks to you Emiya, it looks like we'll have all the equipment fixed before tests begin, I really have to thank you again!"

"No problem," Shirou told him. "See you later!"

Shirou walked down the stairs and heard the sound of girls laughing.

"No, it was nothing!" Shinji exclaimed. "You think that was amazing! Huh?"

Shinji stopped and the two teens stared at each other.

"Shinji," Shirou said, keeping his voice even.

"Oh, still at school I see Emiya!" Shinji smirked.

"Shinji, I need to talk to you right now. I'll just take a minute," Shirou told him.

"A minute, that's too bad. As you can plainly see I'm rather busy. Whatever your little problem is it's going to have to wait! Isn't that right ladies?"

"Hang on; this is about the bruise on Sakura's hand!" Shirou called to him.

"Oh, did something happen to Sakura?" Shinji asked in an annoyed voice.

"Don't dodge the question! Did you do anything to her?" Shirou demanded.

"Why are you asking me? Like I know anything about her," Shinji was dismissive.

"Even though she's your sister?"

Shinji growled at him, "Now listen to me Emiya, you're starting to get on my nerves! Why do you care about someone else's sister? Why don't you mind your own business and keep your nose out of it?"

"You sure you didn't do anything to her?" Shirou asked again.

"No I didn't! Wait a minute, is Sakura going around saying I beat her or something?"

"No," Shirou replied.

"Well there you go then!" Shinji said, as if that settled the matter. "You know Emiya; it's not nice to go around making reckless accusations."

"I know, I'm sorry I doubted you," Shirou apologized.

"Hmm, if you feel bad, why don't you do me a favor? See the dojo's kind of a mess right now and could use quite a bit of serious attention. Since you've got all this free time maybe you could clean up! What do you say?"

Shinji laughed.

"Didn't Miss Fujimura specifically tell you to do that though?" one girl asked.

"Don't you think you should do it?" the other chimed in.

"She's gonna get mad," the first girl remarked.

"It'll be fine, besides if I started cleaning now the shop would be closed by the time I finished."

The girls looked at him.

"I know I can count on you, Emiya!" Shinji smirked walking away.

"Hey, wait for us!" the second girl called to him.

"I'm sorry you have to do all this!" the first girl bowed to him.

They ran off to join Shinji.

Shirou sighed, he went to the archery dojo.

He rang the water out of the washcloth and into the bucket.

"Man, this place never changes!" he said to himself.

Shirou began scrubbing the floor; he didn't hear Rachel enter the building.

"Shirou, I told you to go straight home, you shouldn't be cleaning the dojo. That was Shinji Matou's job, I heard Miss Fujimura tell him that," Raven scolded him.

"He asked me to, so I don't mind," Shirou replied.

Raven sighed, "Well since you won't go over our lessons at home, we'll go over them here. How are you lessons on masking your thoughts coming?"

"I don't know, can you tell what I'm thinking now?" Shirou asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Cute," Raven laughed. "It seems you can mask your thoughts well enough. What about replenishing your Mana?"

"I think I know what I'm doing."

"Good. What did the Mage Oreadin the Strange discover?"

"Gradiation Air, also called Projection Magic," Shirou replied.

"Why was Oreadin referred to as "the Strange"?" Raven asked.

"Because he believed Gradiation Air was not a useless form of magecraft. He believed that a skilled mage could also copy an items materials, components and history."

"What was the specialized magecraft Oreadin the Strange used, what was his magic crest?"

"It was on his shoulders, his specialty was a reality marble, he called it, "Unlimited Blade Works". He was a blacksmith who had a talent for magecraft and he crated Gradiation Air. He was a Mage who terrified everyone he fought against because no one had ever seen anything like it. They gave him the moniker "Oreadin the Strange".

"They say the Unlimited Blade Works reality marble is passed down his bloodline and that the invocation always changes with each generation of Mage."

"What are the basics of tracing, Oreadin the Strange's specialty?" Raven asked.

Shirou was busy mending a bow.

"First one must initiate the projection with the invocation, "Trace on"," Shirou replied. "You must visualize the basic structure of the weapon. You must make the component materials identical. You must also replicate the accumulated age of the weapon and must meet or exceed the weapon's craftsmanship. You must bind these thoughts together and form the sword."

Raven smiled, "Excellent, you learn very quickly. What I've taught you is a very specialized form of magecraft. The reason the works of Oreadin the Strange are difficult to learn is because he was a very difficult teacher, not an easy one to read or understand, but his works are valuable because Mages want to acquire forbidden spells, like his reality marble."

"Where did you learn about Oreadin the Strange, Rachel?" Shirou asked.

"I learned about him from a dragon. He was a lying, manipulative asshole!" Raven spat out.

"A dragon, you learned magecraft from a dragon?!" Shrou gawked.

"Yes, and I'd rather not talk about him now, besides, I have something to give you, it's a summoning spell."

Rachel handed him a piece of paper, he read it. "It looks really complicated, what is it for?"

"It's for summoning a Heroic Spirit, you've been dragged into a contest between mages. A fight to the death over the Hoy Grail. I knew it would happen again, and I wanted to prepare you, so that you would survive. Because I promised Kiritsugu I would help you become a mage and a hero. You will be summoning a Saber class Servant, the same Servant your father had when he fought in the previous Holy Grail War."

"What do you mean?" Shirou asked. "I don't understand; a war between mages?"

"That slight bruise on your hand, it's not a bruise, it's a stigmata. It is the sign that the Holy Grail has chosen you to be a Master. As a Master you will summon a Servant and they will fight to the death to win the Holy Grail for you."

"You've just thrown me for a loop, I don't understand a thing you're saying," Shirou admitted.

"Let's go home, I'll explain it all to you there, since you've finished cleaning the archery dojo," Raven gestured to the now clean room.

"Done!" Shirou heard the sound of metal and turned around. Shirou walked outside.

He stepped outside to look. He saw two men fighting, slicing and stabbing, slashing at each other. He saw one of them crouch down and prepare to attack the man in red.

Shirou was shaking, shocked by the battle taking place in front of him. He felt the terrible urge to run away.

"What the Hell, who are they?!" he asked.

 _Shirou, don't move, if you move a muscle they'll see you, I will teleport you back home. You go to your shed, you repeat the summoning ritual after you use silver and iron in the magic circle in your shed, do you understand me?_

 _Y-yes_ Shirou replied in his thoughts.

Shirou gasped as something black enveloped him and he suddenly found himself right outside his shed at his house. He rushed inside, and followed Raven's instructions, using silver and iron to prepare the summoning circle.

Shirou hoped that his mage teacher would survive fighting that man, whoever he was.

* * *

Raven ran, yeah it was stupid to run; she knew Lancer would be on her in mere seconds.

She led him up a flight of stairs into a hall way, turning around.

She removed her clothes and revealed her leotard, raising the cloak over her face.

"Yo!" Lancer called. Raven knew he was right behind her, without moving an inch, she raised up her energy, shielding herself from the spear, it was a glancing blow, she knew her luck would hold out.

"I know who you are, Ireland's Child of Light, I recognized you by your spear, Gae Bolg, the Spear whose Curse Brings Certain Death. It aims for the heart, never missing its target. You shouldn't pick a fight with me; I'm not interfering in your petty fight over the Holy Grail."

"You know a lot little lady, but I have to follow orders, there can be no witnesses to these battles!" Lancer told her, brandishing his spear.

"Facing you head on is my only option; as a retired hero, if you're going to kill me you're gonna have to work for it!"

"A hero of this era, interesting, and how is it that you know so much about me?" he seemed so casual.

"I'm the mythology teacher," Raven replied.

Lancer laughed, "You did deflect my spear, even for an instant, you must be very lucky! Your magic is very strong if you can stop my Gae Bolg's attack! But that won't work again!"

"We'll see, I've studied you extensively. Let's see how a hero of this era stacks up against a hero of the old days!"

He swung his spear, executing a series of rapid thrusts that would be difficult for an ordinary person to block, he saw weapons take shape and block his attacks, except unlike the Archer class Servant, she did not hold them, but instead threw them at him.

Lancer deflected them easily, stabbing his spear into the ground; he launched himself into the air. He slammed his spear down as she blocked his attacks again, this time with a retractable sword, that shouldn't be possible!

"Depleted Promethium, it's nearly invulnerable, I didn't think it could block a Noble Phantasm, but my friend Nightwing said I should always carry it with me, looks like it comes in handy!"

They traded blows, he swept his spear in front of him, she managed to parry with the sword as they beat each other back and forth down the hallway.

He slashed at her, ripping a large gash in the wall. She parried again, she couldn't hit him, but she could keep him at bay. Suddenly, he cut her cloak and she whirled away, letting it fly up in his face. Raven suddenly threw a handful of smoke pellets at him, another emergency gift from Nightwing.

She threw the sword at his face, but he batted it away as it embedded itself in a nearby wall.

"You're not the Saber class Servant, your spells could make you a Caster, but you can't be a Heroic Spirit. So tell me what are you?"

"I'm no one important, not right now anyway," Raven told him.

"I'll commemorate this as a gift to your impending death," Lancer crouched down and launched himself into the air.

"Gae Bolg!" Lancer shouted; he launched his spear at her. It flew straight towards her heart.

 _Necronom Hezberek Mortix!"_

Malchior's dark magic, she hadn't used it in a long time, back when she was a teenager, she had not been able to control the wild energy, but as an adult, she had mastered it, now she was using it as a stall tactic.

Raven phased through several walls, watching as the spear slammed large holes in all of them. She used the dangerous spell to pull anything off the wall that would come off. She threw tables chairs, even the gym door at it, still the spear moved steadily towards her heart.

"Stop!" Raven commanded in a calm voice. Her dark energy enveloped the entire building.

Lancer was stunned, he wasn't a human so he could still think as he saw time itself freeze everything in place, him, his Noble Phantasm, nothing moved except the girl, this mythology teacher who was also a Mage.

"Well, that was anticlimactic. I'm heading home, I have business to finish up, heh, seems I froze her too. Might as well have a quick chat before I go." She pulled the sword from the wall and walked toward Rin Tohsaka.

Archer had been chagrining in, not to fight Lancer but to attack her, she'd frozen him in place.

Raven touched Rin Tohsaka's shoulder.

"What happened?" Rin asked, staring at her in surprise. She hadn't even sensed Mana in her, and yet she used magic!

"I stopped time, besides, we need to talk, Second Owner Rin Tohsaka," Raven told her.

"That's impossible!" Rin exclaimed.

"For me, Second Owner, the impossible has an eerie way of being merely difficult." Raven folded her arms.

Rin gestured wildly, pointing at the woman she'd only seen as her mythology teacher and not a powerful mage living in plain sight right under her nose without her knowledge!

"Are you insane?! Fighting Lancer head on, are you a Master in the Holy Grail War?"

"I am not a Master, but I know of the Holy Grail Wars, I have no stigmata, but I'm making it my business. You have a lot of nerve letting your Servant attack a civilian. Do you know who I am?" Raven gestured to herself.

"You're Raven the Teen Titan, I heard you retired." Rin replied. "I've heard you're immensely powerful, I can see the stories are true. I should kill you, there shouldn't be any witnesses!"

"Well as you can see I'm no longer a Teen, we dropped the Teen out of Teen Titans when we all turned twenty. And I'm way out of your league. You don't have it in you to kill, besides, you would never beat me, I have far more experience and power than you do. Go home Tohsaka, you've done enough fighting for tonight."

"Tch, like you can stop me!" Rin smirked. I'm the head of one of the three great families; I could beat you if I wanted!"

"I know the identity of your Servant," Raven told her, touching Archer, giving him the ability to move.

"You can't know that, he doesn't remember who he is!" Rin snapped.

"I know _exactly_ who he is and why he's here, and you're _not_ going to have your way Archer, I'll see to that myself!" Raven smiled. "You can't kill _him_ , any more than you can kill _yourself_."

"You're just a fool!" Archer snapped. "That boy's life is nothing but a mistake!"

"I look forward to the day he proves you wrong, becoming a hero of justice is never a mistake," Raven told him.

Archer glowered at her, "And how would someone like you know that?"

"Because I am a hero of justice," Raven replied. "You both share the same soul, that's how I know who you are, no matter what you've done or what happens to you, your soul never changes, and that is why I know you are one of his many futures, Iron-Wrought Mage."

"Oh," Archer smirked, adding snark to his voice, "And how many futures do I have?"

"52 and yours is the only one where he gave into despair," Raven told him. "You can't destroy yourself no matter how hard you try, and you never will!"

Raven began walking away.

"You're not walking out of here!" Rin Tohsaka raised her hand and pointed her fingers in the form of a gun.

 _"Vier Stil Erschießung!"_ Rin Tohsaka fired Gandr shots at her.

Raven didn't even look at Rin as her energy sliced through the shots aimed at her, she casually caught one with her energy and sent it back at Rin Tohsaka, purposely missing the Second Owner's hair, slicing off some of it.

Rin gaped at her in shock.

 _I always heard Raven was strong, but this is ridiculous, taking on Lancer, stopping time! Does she have limits?!_

"I'll take you up on a sparring match one day, but not today!" Raven vanished through the floor.

"Archer, go after Lancer! Now! They searched for Lancer but he was nowhere to be found. And now she had no idea where he was headed.

"What are we going to do about her?" Archer asked. "She knows way too much and there shouldn't be any witnesses."

"I can't kill her Archer, she's very powerful, and she saved Tokyo. If word go out she was murdered in Japan, people would stop at nothing to find her killer. I'm at an impasse; I'll have to figure out something regarding what I'm going to do about her. We're going to search for Lancer, maybe we can find his Master."

Lancer on the other hand, recalled the face of a red haired boy that the teacher had used magic to send away somewhere. He would find both of them and kill them. That was what his Master had ordered him to do, and he was going to follow the orders he'd been given.

* * *

Shirou prepared the silver and iron. He stood before the summoning circle he'd found under boxes in his shed.

He began reading from the paper. Following Raven's instructions as she had written them.

"For the elements, silver and iron. The foundation, stone and the Archduke of Pacts. And for my Great Master Raven. Raise a wall against the wind and close the gate in four directions. Come forth from the crown and follow the forked road leading to the kingdom."

"Fill, fill, fill, fill, fill! Repeat five times, but when each is filled, destroy it. Set."

"Heed my words; my will creates your body! And your sword creates my destiny, if you heed the Grail's call, and obey my will and reason, then answer my summoning!"

"I hear by swear that I shall be all the good in the world, that I shall defeat all the evil in the world!"

"Seventh Heaven clad in the great words of power, come forth from the Circle of Binding, Guardian of Scales!"

There was a blinding light, and Shirou covered his eyes for a moment. He blinked, staring at her in awe.

"I ask you, are you worthy to be my Master?" Saber asked him.

"Yes, I have summoned you here. My teacher told me that I was a Master in something called the Holy Grail War. She was going to explain it to me, but I was attacked and she teleported me back here, she gave me the instructions to summon you."

"I'm your Servant Saber. I've come in response to your summons, your order Master. Henceforth my sword shall be at your side. Your fate is now my fate. Our pact is now sealed."

"I am your Saber class Servant, as such could you please call me Saber?" she asked.

"My name is Shirou, Shirou Emiya," Shirou introduced himself.

"Emiya?" Saber asked in surprise. She sensed danger, another Servant was nearby.

"I live here, no wait, that's not what I really want to say," Shirou said sheepishly.

'I see, I understand you are not a proper Master, nevertheless you are my Master all the same."

"Wait," Shirou held up a hand. "Isn't it weird to start calling me Master all of a sudden like that?"

"Then I shall call you Shirou, yes, the sound of that is quite pleasing to my ears," she said to him.

"Stay inside, Shirou! There is an enemy outside!" Saber sprang out, raising her invisible sword.

Shirou stepped outside to watch.

Saber exchanged blows with lancer, slashing down at his spear as he parried her strikes.

Suddenly, he launched a flurry of attacks so fast that Shirou's eyes could barely keep up with the movements of both fighters.

Saber's defenses were flawless and not one blow hit her. She sprang at him quickly, forcing him back, as he ran in a zig zag pattern. Suddenly, he leapt forward, thrusting his spear at her heart. She batted the blow upwards, shattering the earth beneath them.

Lancer blocked all her horizontal and vertical strikes. Leaping forward, she spun, slamming her sword into his spear. He barely managed to avoid being killed as he leapt back again.

"Who do you think you are? Concealing your weapon like some kind of a coward?"

Saber swung at him again. He leapt out of the way, brandishing his spear.

"What is wrong Lancer, standing there will give spearmen a bad name. If you do not come to me, I will go to you!"

"Before you do, let me ask you this, is a sword your Noble Phantasm?" Lancer asked.

"Perhaps," Saber replied. "Perhaps not, it may be a battle axe or a pole arm. Or it might even be a bow or a weapon like yours, Lancer."

Lancer smirked, brandishing his spear. "Very funny swordsman!"

"What is that stance?" Shirou had seen him do it before; he had a bad feeling about it.

"I have one more question for you. Since this is our first meeting would you like to just call it a draw?"

"I think not, you will fall here Lancer, and you know it!" Saber stated the simple truth; she was going to kill him, right here, right now.

"Is that so? Damn my objective was simply to observe," he sighed.

She glanced up and saw a strange pair staring down at her from the roof of her Master's house. A green man and a gray skinned woman, they did not move, all they did was watch them.

"Who are they Master?" Saber asked.

"My mage teacher and her husband," Shirou replied.

Suddenly, she saw a man land on the ground in front of her Master, he walked towards her, completely unfazed by Lancer's presence, it was as if he didn't even care that the Heroic Spirit was there.

Saber's eyes widened in shock, of all people she had expected to see in this era, _this_ man wasn't one of them. She distinctly remembered receiving news of his death after he betrayed her.

"Impossible! Jason Blood?" she asked, glancing at the red haired man.

He was walking passed her, stepping between her and Lancer.

"Oh dudes, he's gonna do it!" Beast Boy shouted.

"Do what?" Shirou asked, surprised to see the world renowned demonologist in Fuyuki. He'd heard that he was a respected member of the Justice League. He was surprised he seemed to know Saber of all people!

Jason glanced at Saber, "An apology is not nearly enough. My sin against you is unforgivable. I thought after 1,500 years, I'd be able to forgive myself. So I'm going to atone for what I've done to you tonight, with my life if necessary. You are still the greatest king who ever lived and you always will be. All who sat with you, thought the same."

He began to speak, reciting a spell that Shirou had never heard. But Saber knew it, and Raven knew it, and it shook Saber to the core.

 _Yarva Demonicus Etrigan  
Change, change the form of man  
Free the prince forever damned  
Free the might from fleshy mire  
Boil the blood in heart of fire  
Gone, gone the form of man,  
Rise the demon Etrigan!_

And just when Shirou thought he couldn't have seen anything more terrifying than the Fuyuki fire 10 years ago, he saw something just as terrifying if not more. The Demon Prince, Merlin's Demon Etrigan as Jason Blood charged at Lancer, jaws open wide to eat the Heroic Spirit alive.

"Ready or not, I shall come to take your life!"

Lancer activated his Noble Phantasm and did not flinch as he planted his feet, leaping back, he shouted, "Gae Bolg!"

He did not aim at Etrigan, he aimed at Saber.

Gae Bolg flew soaring in a wild patterns toward her heart. The Demon leapt up and grabbed the Noble Phantasm even as the spear flew through the air.

"A skilled warrior, fast as a dancer! Ireland's Child of Light, this Servant Class, Lancer!" Etrigan laughed.

Etrigan took the Noble Phantasm and tried to throw it back, only for it to curve around and pierce him through the heart.

Shirou gawked as he saw the Demon appear behind Lancer and slash at him with his claws, only for the Heroic Spirit to avoid him by moving quickly out of the way.

"A duplicate! Son of a—" Lancer shouted. The spear continued towards Saber as she blocked it, straining against it as it reversed itself and pierced her chest. Shirou watched as Saber flew into the air and landed on the ground.

"You're very lucky Saber! You dodged my ultimate blow!" Lancer said after he caught his Noble Phantasm. "And for that _thing_ to reveal my identity, why would that monstrous thing serve _you_?!"

"A curse? No wait, it reverses cause and effect? Etrigan revealed you to me, Ireland's Child of Light."

"Damn, I really messed up," Lancer sighed, "If I use that move it has to be fatal or I'm in big trouble."

Lancer walked away, "My Master is somewhat of a coward, you see. You dodged my spear so he's ordering me to retreat now."

"You're running away?" Saber asked.

"You're more than welcome to follow, but if you do you better prepare yourself to die!" he looked back at her. He looked up at Raven.

"Oh and little lady, you're a real pain in the ass!" he leapt off into the night.

Shirou remembered Raven had said that Saber was supposed to fight, at least that's how he understood it.

"Hey are you all right?" he asked, he gazed in shock as Saber's wound healed itself.

"Oh my God!" Shirou uttered in surprise, he wasn't expecting that.

Shirou glanced down at his hand, "My teacher said that this stigmata makes me a Master."

"Yes, those are what are known as Command Seals, try to avoid using them carelessly," Saber told him.

"Shirou, please heal me," Saber gestured to her wound.

"All right I'll try," Shirou replied. He focused on replenishing her Mana.

"I am surprised, I thought my Master was novice, I see you have received some proper training."

Saber turned to gaze upon Etrigan.

"Gone, Gone Oh Egrigan, rise again the form of man," Etrigan uttered.

Saber stared at the traitor. "It seems this evening is full of surprises."

She looked up. "There are two enemies outside; one more battle should not be a problem for me. And after that, Jason, I must speak to you in private."

"What do you mean enemies outside?" Shirou asked in shock. "There's more of them?"

Saber leapt over the gate, attacking Archer as he tried to defend Rin Tohsaka.

"Saber—" Shirou shouted.

"Stop!" Raven finished, cutting him off as she once again stopped time. She touched Saber's shoulder.

 _Who is that woman?_ Saber wondered; _she's most certainly a powerful mage._

 _Cease your fighting; I won't have my two best students kill each other tonight!_

"You are not my Master that you can order me, stranger!" Saber replied.

He wants you to stop, but I'd rather not have him waste a Command Seal. Or Artŏrius, Bear King, would you want it to be known that you, a Saber Class Servant is willing to disobey your Master because you feel like it?" Raven asked.

"You know my name, how?" Saber asked, it was just the two of them.

"I study mythology, Your Highness, and well, Jason told me about you ages ago," Raven shrugged.

"How does he still live?" Saber asked.

"Ask him yourself," Raven replied. "But do as your Master says and spare the girl."

"I will adhere to my Master's wishes, please return time to normal."

"Very well," Raven said, gesturing.

"Please tell me what's going on? I need to know at least why I'm fighting Rin Tohsaka!" Shirou told her.

"We have no time for this in front of the enemy!" Saber told him.

"Ah, so that is how it's to be, my good novice Master," Rin Tohsaka told him. "For starters, good evening, Shirou Emiya."


End file.
